I’ve toured 8 historic Gilded Age mansions. Here are the most extravagant displays of wealth I’ve seen.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II was the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the richest man in America during the Gilded Age, and succeeded him as the president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife, Alice Vanderbilt, built The Breakers, a 70-room, 138,300-square-foot summer “cottage,” in 1895.

It was named “The Breakers” because of the way the waves would break on the rocky shores of the oceanfront property.

The design of the billiard room was inspired by ancient Rome with handcrafted marble mosaic ceilings and floors.

Conservators assumed that the panels were silver, but they never seemed to tarnish. Testing with a portable X-ray machine showed that the panels were actually made of platinum, one of the most valuable metals in the world.

The Vanderbilt family used the library as a place to spend their leisure time playing card games and drinking tea.

The ceiling of the Library was also gilded with gold.

The tub was carved from one block of marble and designed to look like a Roman sarcophagus.

Completed in 1892, Marble House measures 140,000 square feet and has 50 rooms. The construction alone cost $11 million in 1892, or around $380 million today when adjusted for inflation.

After the couple divorced, Alva Vanderbilt hosted rallies for women’s suffrage at the mansion with a set of dishes painted with the words “Votes for Women.”

Alva Vanderbilt chose a golden-brown Italian marble for the floors, walls, and grand staircase.

The Vanderbilts imported the purple marble from Algeria.

The chairs were made of bronze and gilded with gold. The design was inspired by King Louis XIV of France’s dining-room chairs.

Buying an art collection “en bloc,” or as a set, instead of accumulating separate pieces over many years was a popular practice in the Gilded Age. Alva Vanderbilt purchased hers from Emile Gavet, a French art collector.

The Grand Salon, also known as the Gold Room, functioned as the Vanderbilts’ ballroom where they hosted lavish parties and balls.

European copper beech trees can grow up to 45 feet wide.

Oelrichs’ father, James Fair, discovered the largest lode of silver ore in the US and became known as the “Bonanza King.”

Oelrichs and her husband, Hermann Oelrichs, spent $2.5 million building Rosecliff — the equivalent of around $91 million today. It was completed in 1902.

The ballroom measures 40 feet by 80 feet. Its size and opulence have made it the perfect backdrop for movie scenes in films such as “The Great Gatsby,” “27 Dresses,” and “Amistad.”

Edward Julius Berwind had a net worth of $31.4 million when he died in 1936 — around $774 million today when adjusted for inflation.

The Elms was modeled after an 18th-century French château named Chateau D’Asnieres and built on a 10-acre estate.

The statues carved by Guillaume Coustou were sourced from Chateau D’Asnieres, which inspired the architecture of The Elms.

The paintings showed scenes from battles led by Roman general Scipio Africanus. The dining room also featured a gilded ceiling.

Displaying artwork collected from other countries or even setting aside an entire themed room for such artifacts was how Gilded Age families signaled that they were worldly and well-traveled.

William Shepard Wetmore made his fortune as a merchant importing goods from China and built the first version of Chateau-sur-Mer in 1852. His son, George Wetmore, served as governor and a US senator of Rhode Island. He and his wife, Edith Wetmore, hired Richard Morris Hunt to remodel the home in the 1870s.

The mirror reflected light from the room’s glass lamps during balls.

The silver wallpaper, stamped with flowers and vines, shone with light from the dining room’s flickering lamps in its heyday. It has since tarnished.

“Turkish” art was a catch-all term for art inspired by the Middle East and Asia — a popular design trend in the 1870s.

Former New York City mayor William Paulding Jr. built the Lyndhurst Mansion in 1842. It was then bought by a merchant and inventor named George Merritt. Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon who was one of the wealthiest men in the Gilded Age, purchased the property from the Merritt family.

The handcrafted faux marble walls served as a status symbol because they were more expensive to produce than real marble.

The walls were stenciled by hand to look like they were covered in leather wallpaper, and the columns on the fireplace were painted to match the real red-grain marble.

The bowling alley still works and can be rented out for private events.

Staatsburgh was completed in 1896 and spans 30,000 square feet.

Around 95% of the furniture, artwork, and other items on display are authentic to the home and the Mills family.

The walls were also decorated with green Italian and French marble and Belgian tapestries from the 18th century.

The urns were the oldest artifacts in the room.

Frederick Vanderbilt was another grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II, who built The Breakers, and William K. Vanderbilt, who built Marble House, were his brothers, as was George Vanderbilt, who commissioned North Carolina’s Biltmore House, the largest private house in the US.

Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt spent $660,000 to build their Hyde Park estate, which would be over $23 million in today’s dollars.

The carpet measured 20 by 40 feet and was over 400 years old.

The Vanderbilts missed no details in making every aspect of their home a luxurious experience.

Wealthy members of Gilded Age society thought of themselves as America’s royalty and decorated their homes accordingly.

I haven’t been to much of Europe, but now that I’ve visited these eight mansions, I have a pretty good sense of what it would be like to tour a French palace or Venetian art museum.